portrait

Description:

Glaucoma (glaw-comb-a) is a tetrahymenine ciliate (very closely related to Tetrahymena). It is flattened, but is made distinctive because the three membranelles in the mouth are very strongly developed. Eats bacteria which are brought into the oral cavity by the cilia in the mouth, and then packaged into food vacuoles at the cytostome - at the posterior end of the oral cavity. Large homogeneous region to the left is the macronucleus. Differential interference contrast.